A retro convention for the neocons: 9-11 gives way to 1968

Speaking of The Manchurian Candidate, the Democrats may know how to make a movie in Hollywood, but the Republicans have long since perfected the art of making a movie in "life." So when was it decided that the entity known as "George W. Bush" would parachute into Madison Square Garden on Thursday night to deliver his acceptance speech, spending less time in New York than he did last Thanksgiving at the Baghdad airport? With sacred ground now hostile territory, Bush can be a High Noon hero for just clippin' his gerunds and showin' up.

photo: Jake Price/SIPA Press

A Sunday afternoon in Chelsea

Is master terrorist Osama at large? Is Afghanistan ungovernable and Iraq a free-fire zone? Do the North Koreans still have their nukes and are the Iranians busy building theirs? Does that anthrax guy roam free? And what about the dirty bomb? Who caresone way or another, New York City has been pacified! Republicans rule! Smoke and mirrors, or tear-gas canisters and TV cameras? Either way, the mission is accomplished.